A new episode of Nickelodeon’s hit live-action series Big Time Rush (Friday, April 2, 8 p.m. ET/PT) topped broadcast and basic cable with kids 6-11 and tweens 9-14 on Friday. The half-hour episode also posted double-digit gains over last year’s like time period and was the number-one telecast in its time period with kids 2-11 (5.1/1.8 million, +19%), kids 6-11 (6.7/1.4 million, +72%), and tweens 9-14 (5.2/1.1 million, +86%).

In addition to the strong performance of Big Time Rush, Nick’s weekly win was fueled by hit series SpongeBob SquarePants and The Penguins of Madagascar, which were the top two animated series, respectively, for the week on broadcast and basic cable with kids 2-11 and kids 6-11 and ranked as basic cable’s top two animated series with total viewers.

A week of Fanboy and Chum Chum new episodes (3/29/10-4/2/10) posted double-digit gains over last year with kids 2-11 (+21%) and kids 6-11 (+14%) and total viewers (+10%), earning the series the number-three spot among animated series for the week on broadcast and basic cable with kids 2-11 and kids 6-11.